Packaging baskets for produce such as strawberries and blueberries are typically delivered to packaging houses from the manufacturer in nested stacks. The packaging house then must denest the baskets and fill the baskets with produce. While the present invention is described in connection with packaging baskets used for produce, it should be noted that the machine of the present invention may be used to denest other types of nested crates, packages and baskets.
Denesting of package baskets has proven to be a significant problem for packaging houses for a variety of reasons. Typically, the packaging baskets are made from a molded fibrous material, although styrofoam may also be used. Occasionally, when a molded fibrous material is used to form the baskets, the baskets are nested before the fibrous material is completely dry so that adjacent nested baskets in a stack stick together. In addition, because the baskets are made from relatively inexpensive materials, the packaging baskets are easily damaged during denesting. Furthermore, denesting has proven to be a time-consuming labor intensive process which is a significant source of overhead for the packaging house.
Typically, prior art denesting machines position the stack of baskets upside down and then utilize a vacuum suction or mechanical mechanism to separate the bottommost basket from the stack. The separated basket is then turned over so that it may be filled with produce.
Such prior art denesting machines have proven to be less than satisfactory for the packaging houses which utilize them. In particular, such prior art denesting machines have a small throughput, a small capacity so that they need to be constantly reloaded with packaging baskets, and tend to damage the packaging baskets upon denesting, especially when two packaging baskets are stuck together.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved machine for denesting packaging baskets. It is a further object of the invention to provide a denesting machine which has a high throughput, which requires little manual supervision and activity, and which does not damage the packaging baskets especially when they stick together.